Ultra Maniac

Publisher
Tokyopop
Writer
Wataru Yoshizumi
Artist
Wataru Yoshizumi
Country of origin
Japan
Length
5
Year
2002

Preview of Ultra Maniac Volume 1

By David Rasmussen
29th Dec 06

From the creator of Marmalade Boy comes a new series.
One with practical (and sometimes not so practical) magic, friendship and love, romance and… tennis? Yes, Tennis, somehow the creator of Marmalade Boy can never get away from tennis. Though on the bright side at least this time it isn’t about the possible romance between a young woman and her soon to be brother in law… so that is at least, you know, something.

Short preview for a short preview book in the Ultra Maniac DVD Box Set that is 1 and a ½ years old (by now the series should have seen either it’s entire release or at the very least have quite a few books out).

Meet Ayu Tateishi, a practical woman who is about to be stuck in an impractical situation.
She’s in Junior High (aka Middle School) … I think. I’m pretty certain she’s in Junior High though it’s not clear if it’s her second year like the Anime or not. She’s the popular girl of the school because she’s the tennis club phenom (an inspiration to the girls of her school, or as of this book at least the 6th Graders).

So she is idolized by those girls (the aforementioned 6th graders), but doesn’t desire that at all as she has only done that to catch the attention of one Tesushi Kaji, her one and only (if she was so lucky).

But that may be the only thing she believes in as she has no misconceptions about the world and love no matter how much she’s so into him (to the point that she is even boycotting Harry Potter books and movies). There is no magical happy endings, no miracle romance, only the conforming lock and load of the real world. This is abit of a disappointment though as Ayu can’t exactly go on living her life in the practical when her soon to be (hasn’t happened yet in this preview) future best friend Nina Sakura, a witch in training who comes from a world of magic. Sent “abroad” (into the normal world) to train, and to find some “something” that her grandfather seems so obsessed about that he spies on her often, Nina is about to hit it off with Ayu after Ayu helps her find her lost pocket PC that she uses for her magical spells (prompting her after stalking Ayu for a whole day to tell her about her powers… which she will, a little later in the first volume that this preview doesn’t cover)!

And the rest you know if you read this week’s review of Ultra Maniac DVD Volume 1.
She’s here to train, and train she has to do indeed. While most of the magic wielding people in her world can easily cast spells, she is forced to use a magic pocket PC and magic box (which acts as a sort of mystical training wheels, but also acts as the icebreaker that gets her hooked up with Ayu through a simple gesture of Ayu helping Nina find her pocket PC) to cast her magic, as well as transform her into her witch’s wears (which looks like a watered down design stolen from CardCaptor Sakura which probably goes into explaining why her last name is Sakura). This might not be so bad as she is still a witch in training, except that her pocket PC was not given enough sentience in order to make sure she doesn’t go willy nilly with her magic at a whim… but that’s for a future review.

I have already given Ultra Maniac DVD Volume 1 a 5 out of 5, now I just need to order this and review it to see if this also gets a 5 out of 5. We’ll see, but that’s for a future review. Stay tuned.

-- David Rasmussen 29th Dec 06